Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1887-10-28
A VISIT TO MONTEREY.


put personal comfort aside, and only no.
tice what they see. We took q room at
an old Mexican hostelry, and after the
regulation supper we began our labor of
repacking our belongings. We found our
room in charge of u withered old woman,
who was neatness personitied, and the lit
tie woman rcioiced in tho fact. That
night we were bitten by fleas worse than
we had ever deemed possible to endure
and live. About midnight VIC heard a
terrible rumbing noise downstairs, for
this hostelry boosted two stories, and to
quiet the little wife's fears | went down
to see what it was l found that the
night porter always has his enormous
four post bed rolled up before the hall
door to prevent any lawlCss character from
coming i'll unknown. Some surveyors,
who were on the way back from some
mines, wished to get in, and he had to get
out of bed, roll his caravan back, undo the
enormous bolts and bars and let them in,
and then roll the ponderous thing hack
again to its place. The weight and move
ment fairly shook the house When
asked why the d they didn't at least
get n lighter bcdstead, the chorus of voices
in no es costumbre sent me upstairs in dis
gust.
A tour of Monterey can be made in
ity it can scarcely be called. The streets
are i'll paved, and the general style of
architecture is uninteresting, the build
ings being of the adobe or unbaked brick,
with flat roofs, the houses set fiat upon
the ground and having brick floors. These
are cleaned by men, when they are cleaned
at ALL women never touching them The
windows are small, and the rooms also,
for the most part In every house and
often in every room is n little shrine to
the Blessed Virgin, and common, highly
colored prints of Scriptural subjects. The
MeXicans are certainly good Catholics.
Not a man among them, no matter what
theft he may have committed, but will
give at least quarter Of the proceeds to
the padre for absolution, md every woman
goes to her duty every morning, no mat
ter how many little errors she may fall
into afterWard.
We visited numbers OF the so called
stores, but found, as our acquaintance
had said, everything was extremely high.
We saw numbers of small, cheap coal oil
lamps which are sold for 81 so that in
America would hardly bring twenty-five
cents. Many things would find ready
market if not so dear.
AS we were strolling back towards the
hotal after our tour, we saw quite small
crowd around plain house and we went
up. There we found q mother sitting
with a dead baby in her lap vainly trying
to choke back the tears as The white haired
old priest consoled her The little woman
could not keep her dignity, for she had
lost her own only baby less than year
ago, and in moment the two bereaved
mothers mingled their tears. l drew her
away, but that evening she wanted to go
back with some flowers she had found,
and as we came to the door we heard
music inside, and lights and singing. We
hardly knew whether to 20 in or not, but
a woman came and taking hold of our
/ hands simply but sweetly led US forward
until we came into the room. There on
an inclined bed lay the pretty baby, with
lights burning at its head, a crucifix above,
and it was dressed in a low necked pink
satin dress with paper gilt wings laid be-
hind its dimpled shoulders. The checks
and lips were painted red and there was
a wreath Of gay artificial flowers on its
| head. As we understood it, all this show
was to make the parents see that the little
| one was an ''angelito' now, and every
| one should rejoice, Every one but they
were corsOled, but the mother and the
! Americana G&Iin embraced with tears
over the dead baby.
AS we were returning we passed down
| another street, where there was music,
and the little woman wanted to go and
see what it was = sounded festive. We
went, and found large sort of saloon,
with a wide open door and bar in the
| far end, near which sat four MeXicans
with guitars and some other string instru-
ment. The room had a bench all around
it, and between dances this was covered
with dark eyed Mexican girls in white,
pink or blue tarletaine dresses, the most
Of them quite pretty, but Gullless Of cor
sets, which | approve Of as a necessary
| adjunct to female dress. There were some
| twenty men, the most of them MeXfcans,
though | noticed several Americans, in
spite of their pretended dislike to MeXi-
cans This was what they call a fandango
or ball The figures are very simple, and
two dance together the steps being Il sort
OF graceful forward and backward move
ment and cross over, each dancer having
! handkerchief in his or her hand, which
they 1lirt at each other as they dance.
While we were looking in we saw our fat
friend of yesterday com" out, and he
looked q little confused at my little
woman's request, that if he knew the peo-
pie wouldn't he take Us in TO observe the
customs, etc"
"Well, ma am, 1T isn't exactly the place
for n lady, you know, but ii Mr.. Nilo
will leave you at the hotel and come back,
why | can take him in and he can OBJ
serve''---
"Sirw said the decided little person.
eff Mr., WHO could go, it is a perfectly
proper place Tor me, too, And if it isn't
suitable for me, why, it isn't for him, and
he doesn't want to 60"
Our friend winkcd at me as we moved
off, and as we returned TO the hotel ]
waited until ''she' had put her crimps
up, and then said | guessed I would take
n short stroll and smoke cigar, but
throwing lace rigmarole over the crimps
the little woman said she wasn't sleepy
either, so ! said | guessed ia stay in after
all, and she sweetly said she would too
That settled it for EDWARD WHO
Overprcsslro in schools.
DR.. Bowditch, of Boston, has lately ex-
pressed himself very plainly on the sub
ject of overpressure in schools and tho